Inculturated Mission in a Spectacular Land of Contrasts

From 16-22 August 2024, the Minister General Br. Massimo Fusarelli OFM visited the Province of St. Francis Herald of Peace in Papua, accompanied by Definitor General Br. John Wong OFM and Vice Director of the Development Office Br. Baptist D'Souza OFM.  Here, the friars serve in many locations of great natural beauty, that appear to be tranquil and serene. Yet, just below the surface in many of these places, poverty, violence and conflict are a part of the daily reality of the people of God.

This strongly missionary presence of the Order was founded by Dutch missionary friars, 108 of whom have served in the missions of this western half of the island of Papua since 1937. This entity brcame an Autonomous Custody in 2007 and subsequently a Province in 2017. The last of the Dutch friars in Papua, Br. Nico Syukur Dister OFM, returned to the Netherlands in early 2024.

Today, the Province has over 70 Solemn Professed friars and over 30 Temporary Professed friars who are from indigenous Papuan cultures, as well as from the indonesian islands of Maluku, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Java, Timor and Flores, Timor. The friars maintain their strong commitment to a contextualised Formation, to an inculturated Evangelisation, and to Mission to the marginalised.

Together with the local Minister Provincial Br. Aloysius Gonzaga Rusmadji OFM, the Minister General and his companions from the General Curia visited the Province's missions to the Asmat peoples in the southern swamps of Agats Diocese, to the Kamoro people in Timika-Mapuru Jaya, and to the indigenous peoples of Pikhe and Yiwika in Wamena, in the Baliem Valley which was first discovered by the Western world only in 1938. 

In these remote missions, the friars serve the rural poor who are very isolated and who generally have low levels of education and healthcare; whereas in their urban ministries, the friars provide pastoral care for parishioners who face very contemporary challenges. Beyond West Papua, the Province of St Francis Herald of Peace has mission projects in other islands of the archipelago and missionaries in South Sudan and the Holy Land.

Brother Massimo and his team visited the Friars and some of their ministries in the city of Jayapura as well as Abepura and Sentani. On the grounds of the Provincial House, the Province has established Provita hospital with a Franciscan ethos and some of the latest medical equipment in Papua; and on the same mission property as a house of Inital Formation, the friars run the Surya  Kasih hospice for abandoned HIV AIDS patients, many of whom have late-stage critical illnesses. 

In addition, the friars of West Papua operate a vibrant JPIC ministry, with a friary community of three friars whonwork in the Provincial JPIC Office together with seven full-time staff and over 10 volunteers, on the same Sentani property as the Novitiate and Pre-Postulancy communities.

In all their missions and ministries, the friars of the Province maintain their strong commitment to formation and studies. The Province has a vibrant Initial Formation programme that is human, Christian and Franciscan, with special emphasis on local culture, languages and psycho-spiritual growth. Friars continue to be sent for further study locally and abroad, and academically qualified friars are directly involved in teaching at universities, colleges, schools, and the combined seminary of Papua's dioceses.

In all their endeavours, the friars of the Province of St. Francis Herald of Peace serve in close fraternal relationship with other members of the Franciscan Family, including the Capuchin Friars, Franciscan Sisters and the growing Secular Franciscan Order. The entire Franciscan Family collaborates in this inculturated Franciscan proclamation of the Good News in this spectacular, and at the same time, challenging land of contrasts.